From Script to Screen Idea

20:17

I found that the best way to explain this idea without going through the story step-by-step was to write it as a Logline:

James Bennett, a young Private Detective, must catch the notorious serial murderer; ‘The Padlock Killer’ before he strikes again. The similarities between this case and his first, which he failed, act as an impassable mental wall, causing Bennett to use everything in his arsenal to bring the madman to justice.

The killer uses a padlock as his signature, either attaching it to his victims in some way or piercing it through their skin.
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I'm not too sure how I'd go about ending it, though. I feel that to fit it into a 2 minute animation, it might be a good idea to end it with the detective just having pieced the clues together and, with a gasp and perhaps a click of the fingers, the screen jumps to black. Although would that be a bit of a disappointing point to end it? 

I also think that it being similar to his first failed case may not be enough of a reason for the viewers to side with him. Should the case instead link to something more personal and if so, what?

On top of that, I'm not too sure what evidence he could discover that helps him figure out the case. I'm currently thinking that each of the victims' padlocks had something inscribed on them as the killer wanted to be found, and the inscriptions only made sense when pieced together with the latest padlock, but I'm not sure what could be inscribed on them. If you guys have any other ideas on the evidence, let me know :)


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4 comments

  1. hey michael, i like the idea of the padlock having something unique imprinted on them, maybe that leads the detective to the only locksmith who uses that mark.

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    1. Yeah, that's a cool idea. Maybe the previous padlocks spell out the street name when put into the right order and the most recent one has the house/building number? Then, after the detective finds the address, he enters the building and the screen jumps to black, while you can hear the shop bell ring and the door shut behind him

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    2. sounds like you've got yourself a story and i can see that ending being really successful for a short film

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  2. just dropping by to say... can you get all of this info (backstory + actual contemporary case etc) into 2 minutes...? My instinct is 'go simpler'...

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